The patterns in the rock look like the ones from the palm wood and comes in variety of colors
Most of the rocks are spotted
Depending on how it is cut, the rock can display a variety of patterns which is useful for jewelry
Petrified Palm-wood is considered the most beautiful fossil
(http://www.bernardine.com/images/stones/palm/palm-collage.jpg) These are samples of the variety of colora and petterns that the petrified plam-wood can display
(http://www.utexas.edu/tmm/exhibits/treasures/archive/images/palmwood.jpg) This a petrified palm-wood fossil
TIME EXISTED:
The petrified palm-wood has said to come from forests 100 million years ago
To Louisiana though, the actual rocks have been formed 24-30 million years ago
PRESERVATION:
The petrified palm-wood comes from fallen trees in muddy soil/swamps
Those fallen trees don’t decay while due to the lack of oxygen
After time when wood is below the surface, minerals form a cast of mineral, which hardens, and water preserves the tissue of the actual wood inside the cast
WHO FOUND THE FOSSIL/WHY IS IT THE STATE FOSSIL:
Petrified palm-wood was officially declared the state fossil in 1976.
Petrified was actually fist found in Arizona by Lorenzo Silgreaves
Louisiana adopted the fossil due to the amount of mineral rich forest that it contains within the state
STATE: Louisiana
FOSSIL: Palmoxylon sp. (Petrified Palm-wood)
DESCRIPTION:
TIME EXISTED:
PRESERVATION:
WHO FOUND THE FOSSIL/WHY IS IT THE STATE FOSSIL:
SOURCES:
Clementes, G., (unknown). Fossil Preservation. Petrification. Retrieved from: http://www.t-rat.com/Pages/FossilPreservation.html
Heinrich, P., V., (2001). Petrified Palm Wodd. The Louisiana State Fossil. Version 4.0. Retrieved from:
http://www.intersurf.com/~chalcedony/Palm.html